Packers-Texans press box notes

Green Bay (2-3) travels to Houston for the first time since 2004 to take on the undefeated Texans (5-0) in the Packers’ second game of a three-game road trip.

It will be the first time the Packers have faced an undefeated team with five or more wins since they played the 7-0 Tennessee Titans in Nashville on Nov. 2, 2008. Houston and Atlanta are the only remaining undefeated teams this season entering Week 6.

This marks only the second visit to Reliant Stadium for the Packers, with the first meeting also played on a Sunday night. That game (Nov. 21, 2004) ended with a 46-yard Ryan Longwell field goal as time expired to give Green Bay a 16-13 win.

The Packers are 4-0 all-time in the city of Houston, with three of those victories coming against the Oilers.

The only other meeting between the Packers and Texans also ended with a field goal as time expired. Kris Brown’s 40-yarder at Lambeau Field on Dec. 7, 2008, gave Houston the 24-21 victory.

Green Bay fell to 2-3 this season with a 30-27 loss to Indianapolis last Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Packers have won 19 of their last 23 regular-season games (.826), the best record in the league over that span.

The Texans improved to 5-0 with a 23-17 win at the N.Y. Jets this past Monday night. Houston enters tonight’s game tied for No. 3 in the league in points scored (29.8 ppg) and ranked No. 4 in points allowed (14.6 ppg).

Following tonight’s contest at Houston, Green Bay will close out its three-game road swing at St. Louis next Sunday. It is the first time the Packers have played three straight road contests since 1998 (Weeks 10-12).

Ironically, Houston (Weeks 12-14) is the only other team in the league with three consecutive road games on the 2012 schedule.

Including playoffs, Green Bay is 10-3 (.769) away from Lambeau Field over its last 13 games. The Packers have won seven of their last 10 regular-season road contests.

UNDER THE LIGHTS

Tonight’s contest at Houston is one of three scheduled Sunday night contests for the Packers this season, with games at the N.Y. Giants in Week 12 and vs. Detroit in Week 14 (both subject to flex scheduling).

The Packers have won five of their last six games played on Sunday night, with the lone loss over that span coming at New England (31-27) in Week 15 of the 2010 season.

Under Head Coach Mike McCarthy, the Packers are 6-3 (.667) in Sunday night contests.

Green Bay has posted at least 300 yards of total offense in 20 of its last 21 regular-season games, tied with New England for the most in the league since 2011.

Since Week 9 last season, the Packers have scored TDs on 38 of 53 red-zone trips, a 71.7 percentage that ranks No. 1 in the league over that span.

Entering Week 6, the Packers are tied for the league lead in sacks (18) and rank No. 2 in sack yardage (125).

In his last 13 regular-season starts away from Lambeau Field, QB Aaron Rodgers has completed 287 of 426 passes (67.4 percent) for 3,651 yards and 29 TDs with just four INTs for a 112.7 passer rating. Rodgers has posted a 100-plus passer rating in 10 of those 13 games. Rodgers’ career passer rating of 98.6 on the road ranks No. 1 in NFL history (min. 700 attempts).

Entering Week 6, WR James Jones is tied for the NFL lead (Giants WR Victor Cruz) with five TD catches this season. He has three two-TD catch games since Week 16 of last season, the most in the league over that span. He is the first Packer with five TD catches in the opening five games of a season since WR Javon Walker did so in 2004. The last Packer to catch six TD passes in the first six games was TE Bubba Franks in 2001.

LB Clay Matthews, who leads the NFL with eight sacks this season,needs two more for the third 10-sack season of his career. The franchise record for fewest games needed to reach the 10-sack mark in a season is seven games by DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila in 2001.

By appearing in tonight’s contest, LB A.J. Hawk will be playing in the 100th regular-season game of his career.

DB Charles Woodson needs a half-sack for his fifth straight season with two or more sacks. He would join Rodney Harrison and Adam Archuleta as the only NFL defensive backs to accomplish that feat in five consecutive seasons since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.

Woodson is currently tied for No. 4 in team history with S LeRoy Butler with 38 interceptions. He needs one more to tie CB Herb Adderley (39) for No. 3 in franchise annals.

NOTABLE CONNECTIONSPackers defensive coordinator Dom Capers was the first head coach in Texans franchise history, leading the club for four seasons (2002-05) after being hired in January 2001, more than a year before Houston’s inaugural season…CB Tramon Williams entered the NFL as a non-drafted free agent with the Texans in May 2006 before being released by the club at the end of the 2006 preseason…Packers WR Donald Driver is a Houston native and attended Milby High…Packers general manager Ted Thompson was born in Atlanta, Texas, played at Southern Methodist, and played in the city of Houston for 10 seasons (1975-84) with the Oilers…Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was on the Oilers’ staff from 1976-80 and was Thompson’s position coach in ’76…Packers running backs coach Alex Van Pelt played QB for the Bills when Phillips was Buffalo’s head coach from 1998-2000…Packers TE Jermichael Finley played at Texas and attended Diboll (Texas) High…Packers K Mason Crosby was born in Lubbock, Texas, and attended Georgetown (Texas) High…Packers QB Graham Harrell played at Texas Tech and attended Ennis (Texas) High, finishing his high school career as the state’s all-time leading passer with 12,532 yards and 167 TDs…Packers T Marshall Newhouse was born in Dallas, attended Lake Highlands High there, and played at Texas Christian…Packers LB Robert Francois was born in Houston and attended Ross Sterling High in Baytown, Texas, for one year...Packers special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum is from Bryan, Texas, played at Texas A&M, and coached at the school in three different stints (1989, 1991-93, 2000-02)…Slocum coached at Texas A&M with Texans head coach Gary Kubiak in 1992-93…Packers tight ends coach Jerry Fontenot twice earned honorable mention All-American honors (1986-87) as an offensive lineman at Texas A&M…Texans DE J.J. Watt played at the University of Wisconsin and attended Pewaukee (Wis.) High…Texans TEs Owen Daniels and Garrett Graham also played at Wisconsin…Texans G Brandon Brooks is from Milwaukee and attended Riverside University High in the city.